A hostile environment! That's what the Tory party promised/threatened for migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, or, my description of choice, people. Creating hostility, in our weird upside down world, turned out to be something of a vote winner but the people who voted for hostility, including many in my own family, only wanted hostility to others, not for themselves.
It's as if they understood, only too well, the meaning of the word 'hostile' but that they had no concept of what 'environment' meant. Because a hostile environment, by its very nature, is hostile to all that are in it. That was a problem then and it's a problem now. It's a problem that underpins Britain's woeful response to the tragic events unfolding in Ukraine in Putin's War.
Our leaders have spoke many fine words about how Britain will stand behind Ukraine, and Ukrainians, (in a way they resolutely did not for Syrians and Yemenis - even though we were selling Saudi Arabia the weapons to attack Yemen and kills its people) but, so far, the actions have not sufficiently backed up those words. Not the actions of the British people who have offered, in their thousands, their spare rooms to Ukrainian refugees. But the actions of the British government.
It's trickier than normal to write a piece critiquing Boris Johnson and his government when there is, so clearly, a much more dangerous world leader than him right now. Putin, as my friend Darren described him is a "psychopathic megalomaniac with access to nuclear weapons". He is, as Joe Biden said, a "butcher". He's a murderer, he's a war criminal, and he's a threat to the entire planet.
Undoubtedly the world would be better off if he was dead. Which isn't what I'm wishing on Boris Johnson. I said it's tricky to critique Johnson and his gang at the moment but I didn't say it was impossible. He's taken advantage of the world's focus on events in Ukraine to escape the law over the partygate scandal and he's used it as a cover for other foul acts but, none of them - of course, are as horrendous as the scenes we see in Mariupol, in Kharkivm, and in Kyiv.
Mariupol has been almost completely destroyed. I'd never heard of Mariupol so I thought I'd look it up and see what British cities it compares to in size and was shocked to find it has a similar population to Cardiff, Edinburgh, or Leeds. Maternity hospitals and theatres full of innocent people sheltering have been bombed by Putin's merciless, woefully misguided, and often incompetent yet more often lethal, army in a dire, and disastrous, war that will, in the end, hurt the people of Russia more than any other group of people.
Though, of course, it is the Ukrainians that are suffering the most, by far, right now. The British people, in a way that feels sadly unparalleled in recent history, can see this and are doing what they can. Offering rooms for refugees, running convoys of supplies out to the Ukrainian border, giving to charity, and, though it seems simple it does at least keep the message out there, waving yellow and blue Ukrainian flags from their windows as once they did NHS rainbows.
Where it all ends nobody knows but the one way in which all nations can help is by offering safe haven for Ukrainian refugees. Unlike Poland and Denmark, the UK were slow off the mark on this. It certainly seemed to be more difficult for them to put some kind of process in place than it did for them to move Russian oligarchs into the House of Lords.
At one point a mere fifty visas were handed to Ukrainians to come to the UK. To put that in perspective, at the same time Ireland, a country with less than 10% of the UK's population, had offered one thousand. That's, per head, two hundred times as charitable. Yet still Johnson and his ministers carp on about being 'world leading'.
The only way in which they lead the world is, sadly, in lying and boasting. As well as protecting the holy grail of Brexit. An idea, of course, that was all about creating an ever more hostile environment. Not least for people who have suffered more than enough hostility anyway.
Which makes it extra galling, and hugely embarrassing for anyone who lives in this country, when Johnson has the audacity to compare those fighting for their freedom, their country, and their lives in Ukraine to those who voted for, and no doubt those who ultimately delivered, Brexit.
He leaves aside the fact that Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many in Ukraine would love to be part of the EU and he ignores the fact that Putin, along with Donald Trump and ISIS, was one of the few world leaders who supported Brexit.
But then Johnson needs to be very careful when untangling the complicated, intertwined, relationship between Russia, Russian money particularly, and the British establishment at which the Tory party is very much at the heart of.
Russian money has corrupted the Tory party and the British political system for so long now it's an almost impossible task to undo all its damage. Perhaps that's why the Tory MP Edward Leigh 'reminded' the house that in his constituency of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, people have had enough of hearing about Ukraine. While adding, for extra affect, they had quite enough migrants already, thankyou very much.
Leigh's message fell on flat ears because it was delivered in the early stages of Putin's War in Ukraine but he won't be the only one either thinking like that or considering that such views will play well with British people who have been raised on a diet of vile lies from the Murdoch press for decades. Others will speak in similar ways soon enough, I have no doubt.
In a hope of weening ourselves off Russian gas completely (and, thankfully, we're not as reliant on it as many of our European neighbours), Johnson visited Saudi Arabia cap in hand pleading for oil and ignoring the fact that a day or two before they had executed eighty-one people. I'm all for breaking all ties with militaristic autocracies like Russia but that should be extended to Saudi Arabia too.
Beneath the cover of the war and its accompanying humanitarian crisis, the worst in my lifetime, the government have dropped plans to cap MP's earnings from second jobs, passed a cruel and austerity heavy mini-budget that Chancellor Rishi Sunak tried to dress up as the complete opposite, have made plans to axe laws barring the important of hunting 'trophies', and given Gavin Williamson, Gavin fucking Williamson - a man who was considered both the worst Education Secretary and the worst Defence Secretary in living memory, a knighthood.
Well, he did once tell Russia to "go away and shut up". That went well. Mind you, are we surprised we are the sort of the country that makes him a knight when we're the sort of country that actively changes employment law so that the, once highly respected, P&O can sack eight hundred workers via a heartless and possibly illegal pre-recorded video message
Then to replace those workers with cheap foreign labour. Which Brexit enabled even if that wasn't what they wrote on the side of the bus. The authors of Britannia Unchained (Liz Truss, Dominic Raab, Priti Patel, and Kwasi Kwarteng) knew that workers were mere components and not people, while adding that "the British are among the worst idlers in the world" so they'll be more than happy with the move taken by P&O.
Or, strictly speaking, taken by DP World, the Dubai based owners of P&O who are trade advisors to our government. Appointed by none other than Liz Truss in a move that shows just how long the Tories have been carving up the businesses and institutions of this company to enrich themselves.
Sadlu, instead of offering any better alternatives many of my friends are using social media to cultishly relitigate the arguments about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. He lost. He's no longer the leader of the opposition. He's not even in the fucking party. The public didn't like him. Get over it. Move on. Keir Starmer's the leader of the opposition now so either get behind him or find someone else with new ideas to get behind. Someone who can win. Corbyn's gone. He had two chances. He didn't take them and now he's gone. Please focus on getting rid of the Tories and not arguing the toss over events long since decided.
Which, I know is a bit rich with my Brexit references - though Brexit is still - unlike Corbyn - relevant to say. I've not, since last writing, just been getting dismayed with world leaders and the messes they keep creating. I've been doing nice things too. I attended a Skeptics in the Pub online event about Internet hate speech and how it bleeds into real life, one about F1/motor sport technology that was far better than I expected it to be, and another about Flat Earth belief. Though I missed a return to a live, in the pub, London Fortean Society event due to a rather painful bout of gout (in hands/arm/wrist - ouch) I made up for it with a visit to a London Skeptics event, in their new home The Miller, with Professor Chris French and about his career in anomalistic study.
It was great. As were trips to the theatre to see A Number at the Old Vic and Ava at Hammersmith Riverside Studios and one to the cinema (Camden Curzon - first ever trip) to see Rebel Dread. A further theatrical trip (The Forest at Hampstead Theatre) was cancelled at the last minute, due to 'indisposition' among the cast, at least gave way to a quick, and pleasant drink with Kathy at the Haverstock Tavern.
I went to exhibitions too. Bridget Riley at the Lightbox in Woking with Darren (followed by a delicious halloumi burger in the Marciano Lounge which he generously paid for), Gainsborough's Blue Boy @ the National, Jock McFadyen @ RA, Hogarth and Europe at Tate Britain, Sebastiao Salgado @ Science Museum, America in Crisis @ Saatchi Gallery w/Vicki (followed by Pizza Express and another chance to try their tasty jalapeno dough balls), and a double header of Allison Katz and Julien Creuzet at the Camden Arts Centre.
Even better than all that we finally did our first TADS walk of 2022, in Tadley, with a cast of too many people to mention (some of us even met in Poppins in Basingstoke for brunch) the next day. We also did our second stage of theThames Path walk from Tower Bridge to Hammersmith and a London by Foot walk from Fulwell to Hammersmith and a third visit to Sagar in eight days! Two days ago, I took a solo walk around the perimeter of SE21 and even the sun came out for me.
I've had lovely phone calls with many people, although Michelle is the only one I've not been able to meet in person - but we've made up for that by booking a short holiday with Evie in June, and had a nice time at my boss Dougie's leaving meal at Barton's Mill in Old Basing (pumpkin and sage tortellini/Wadsworth 6X) which even involved staying in the Hampshire Court hotel in Chineham.
So, gout aside, my personal life has been pretty good and, as ever, the political situation has continued to get worse. One of the reasons I enjoy my personal life is that I try to create a friendly, rather than a hostile, environment. Vladimir Putin and his troops are showing us what a genuinely hostile environment looks like right now and it's not pleasant. It makes me think that those elected on the promise, or threat, of creating hostile environments may not have our best interests at heart. Remember that when you next vote.
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